This is sad on so many levels. As a longtime Rattlers STH, you get to see and hear a lot behind the scenes. No question that the ownership question has dogged them for a while. Rob Clark gets the franchise to return rightfully thinking that he can piggyback it on the Rhinos that his dad owns (all part of the Steve Donner fallout). Trouble is dad doesn’t care for the rattlers and Rob doesn’t know the game of lacrosse well enough to be able to market them properly if at all. Eventually dad wants the rattlers gone, rob wants out, the league finds a new owner, the Rhinos don’t negotiate the stadium lease in good faith, and the rattlers become nomads for a few years going to SUNY Brockport and then to Aquinas, losing fans along the way.

Tim Soudan is head coach and gm for player personnel, and they have literally zero pr budget. They come back to Capelli Sports stadium this past year, and considering the instability and lack of PR I thought drew pretty well (I thought more than what was reported). Had a weeknight and a Sunday afternoon game thrown in for no good reason (the stadium was vacant the entire weekend), still outdrew 2 cities at least 3 times Rochester’s size, and within a few hundred of placing 5th overall. I’m serious when I say that I think one more year at Capelli would stabilize things. People were coming back, and new fans were created.

Problem is that the MLL looks at what have you done for me lately. They went to Atlanta after holding the championship there for 2 years and papered the house both times, and now are barely scratching 2000 a game now. They think the same b/c Dallas drew 7500 last year. Give Dallas an expansion team. The best field players in the world and the league continues to act like a glorified beer league. Rochester is a good lax town. I remember in 2007 the year before they won the title how good the attendance was. For the semi finals against Philly, they put close to 10k in the stands. Not saying they would average that, but the fan base is there...

They changed the colors up a bit, emphasizing the silver, which I like. There's too much orange in the MLL. They're still going to be owned by New Balance, but the team president, Bill Goren, is CTO of AA Baseball's Frisco (TX) Roughriders. There was a rep from the Dallas Cowboys at the announcement. Forbes has a pretty good write-up on the relationship with the Cowboys:

Although the Cowboys have not made any investments into the Rattlers, the teams have developed a marketing partnership in which the NFL franchise will help promote lacrosse games at the Ford Center, as well as provide the Rattlers with access to some of its databases and media channels, said Chad Estis, executive vice president of business operations for the Dallas Cowboys. Terms of the tenant arrangement between the Rattlers and the Ford Center were not disclosed.

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A Bill Goren quote from the same article:

"We know Denver is averaging around 9,000, I'm looking to be right around that seven to nine number," Goren said. "I think 9,000 in this building will look incredibly full and will be incredibly loud."

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The Ford Center at the Star seats 12,000. If that 7,000 tickets goal had been realized last season, it would have flipped the sign of the entire league's attendance trend to positive. We'll see if the heft of the Cowboys' marketing machine can help that come to fruition. There have been markets in the past that saw attendance drop drastically for expansion teams compared to the attendance of specialty, exploratory events like the All-Star game in the same market. Also of note:

By 2024, the MLL plans to expand to 16 teams from its current total of nine, Gross said. The league intends to add a new team by 2019 or 2020, followed by two additional franchises in 2021 and two more in 2023 and 2024, he added.

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IIRC, 16 teams used to be the goal for 2020. Better late than never, I guess? Based on past rumors, I'm guessing Houston will be one of the expansion teams.

So talk about a stable league. 16 seasons - in addition to the Rattlers; LA, SF, Chicago, Bridgeport, Philly, Toronto - Hamilton, and NJ all gone. Had a weekend deal with ESPN - gone, had a weekend deal with CBS Sports Network - gone with exception of playoffs. Players are paid a pittance. And they're going to expand to 16 teams, good luck with that. They don't know how to market, and don't understand how to garner/keep sponsors. Not much more than a glorified beer league.

So talk about a stable league. 16 seasons - in addition to the Rattlers; LA, SF, Chicago, Bridgeport, Philly, Toronto - Hamilton, and NJ all gone. Had a weekend deal with ESPN - gone, had a weekend deal with CBS Sports Network - gone with exception of playoffs. Players are paid a pittance. And they're going to expand to 16 teams, good luck with that. They don't know how to market, and don't understand how to garner/keep sponsors. Not much more than a glorified beer league.

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The MLL used to be good at all of that. The overall average attendance has dropped every year over the last 5-7. The indoor game has so much more to offer so I hope the NLL watches and learns from the mistakes of the MLL.

The irony of this move is that the Ford Center is an indoor facility. Which means the outdoor lacrosse league will be playing a few games indoors.